Page 43 of Under Fire

“No, not for me. Remember I got a second degree in chemical engineering.”

There was no way she could forget. Nate had been one of the smartest men on their team, with exceptional skills. “I remember and appreciate all your help.”

“Anytime. I’m also working with Cranston on the burner phone issue to find out who placed that call to Donnie Barcos.”

Cranston Riley was also a senior special agent who’d been released by DOGE. His specialty was technology, and like Nate, he was an expert in his field. Whenever Nate and Cranston worked together, the results were phenomenal. “Thanks.”

“No, we thank you. Besides, you saved my life that time on that drug raid. You always kept Cranston and me on our toes, and now helping you with your cases keeps us sharp. The Bureau made a mistake letting you go.”

“You guys, too.”

“No, Sunshine. Although I can’t speak for Cranston, it was time for me to leave. I had planned to retire in another year anyway. Now I have more fun assisting other former agents while they continue to fight crime.”

“Thanks, Nate. You both are the best, and I appreciate it.”

After the call ended, she knew if anyone could trace that gun back to the owner for her, it would be Nate. He’d already done the impossible by retrieving that serial number. Leaning back in her chair, she took another sip of coffee and reflected on what Nate had said. It seemed Detective Connors had been right about tracing the ownership of the gun that killed Barcos as a dead end. At least for law enforcement. This was the second time she might have misjudged him.

There was no way she would share with the detectives what she and Locke had discovered about those two police officers. Although things looked shady, they needed more definitive proof. A transfer of bank funds between Adkins and Biggins accounts would be a red flag. Before leaving Locke’s place last night, she had ordered a report on Officer Biggins’ wife. That will give her something to review when she returned to her office on Monday.

Her office.

Why was she thinking of the library Locke had converted into an office for her as hers? She would admit it was nice and spacious, and while working there, she didn’t feel cramped as she did in her home office. More than once, Malik had suggested she find a bigger place, but he knew why she wouldn’t.

This house had been Derek’s home. The place he returned to whenever he was on leave. The place he had left to her. They had sold her parents’ home, and Derek had used the proceeds to pay off her student loans. She appreciated him for doing that.

She glanced at her watch. It was time to get dressed and visit police headquarters.

***

Locke had just finished watching Detectives Connors and Tomlin’s interrogation tape of Arthur Capers, the man reputed to be the second in command under Donnie Barcos. Although he admitted he knew Barcos would be meeting with Karl Halifax, he swore he hadn’t called to warn Barcos it was a setup.

He even admitted he had tried talking Barcos out of meeting Karl alone, and that he and two others of Barcos’ men had been parked two miles away. They hadn’t known anything had gone wrong until they saw the police swarm the warehouse. He did admit that Barcos had given them orders to avenge his death if it was determined the meeting had been a setup, but that no such retaliation had been planned or carried out.

The man swore he didn’t know Nick Underwood and claimed he had an iron-clad alibi as to where he was at the time of the man’s murder. And he staunchly denied having anything to do with Barcos’ death, although both Connors and Tomlin relentlessly tried to push a confession out of him, stating he had a motive. He would be the top person in charge now that Barcos was dead, which, in their opinion, was a lot to gain. Capers denied the allegations and said another man would be in charge, but he wasn’t sure who that person was.

Locke found that hard to believe. If the man had such a close relationship with Barcos and assumed he would take over, but discovered he wouldn’t, that would be another reason for Capers to arrange Barcos’ death. Wouldn’t he have felt some sort of betrayal?

And Locke wasn’t certain he believed him when he said he, nor anyone else who’d worked for Barcos, would have had a reason to want to kill Nyla Roker. He claimed all of Barcos’ men had scattered and would not have risked discovery by avenging Barcos’ death. Under further intense questioning, Connors and Tomlin got Capers to admit that if such a thing happened, Karl, not Nyla, would have been the intended target. But the man stressed several times that neither he nor any of Barco’s men were responsible for the attack.

Locke knew Detectives Connors and Tomlin hadn’t believed Capers about the latter, but he wasn’t sure he was lying or not. He could believe Karl was the intended target, but if Barcos’ men orchestrated the entire thing, how had they known where Nyla had been hiding out? Her parents had tracked her call and provided law enforcement with that information, so how had the attackers gotten to the house before the police? A good thirty minutes before. By the time the police arrived, the house had been totally demolished. That meant someone had been tipped off in advance.

He picked up the phone to call Hollis, convinced he had a legitimate reason to call her and not because he wanted to hear her voice. She answered on the first ring. “Good morning, Locke.”

He felt flutters in the middle of his stomach at the sound of her voice. “Good morning, Hollis. Have you made it to police headquarters yet?”

“I’m on my way there now. Why?”

“I want to review the interview with the Rokers to determine who else might have been privy to Nyla’s location after they tracked the information. There was a leak, and I’m not depending on Detectives Connors and Tomlin to share much about it. Especially if it will implicate someone inside their department,” he said.

“No problem, I’ll make sure you get a copy.”

“Thanks. And the abandoned warehouse has been released as a crime scene. I contacted the owner for permission for you to go in and look around. They got a new security lock on the doors, so here’s the code,” he said, then rattled it off to her. “Be careful.”

“I will.”

There was no reason to keep her on the phone. Besides, they both had work to do, so he said, “I’ll talk to you later. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye, Locke.”